Vehicles

Several car owners woke up Tuesday morning to see their tires slashed, according to Newport Beach police. Police received two calls about 7 a.m. with reports of vehicles in the vicinities of 33rd and Lake streets, and 32nd and Lake streets, having slashed tires. Police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe said 13 vehicles were vandalized. She said the police will note the affected cars and contact the owners via the license plate information. Lowe said the city has seen 352 acts of vandalism in the first 10 months of 2011, compared to 345 during the same period last year.

Police are investigating a series of overnight vehicle burglaries in a Newport Beach neighborhood between Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said at least four vehicles were burglarized near Poppy and Seaview avenues and thousands of dollars in property was taken. Officers found four vehicles, including two Land Rovers, a Volvo and a 2008 Mercedes E350, with smashed windows and the inside of the vehicles ransacked. The incidents happened between about 3 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, said Sgt. Evan Sailor.

A number of “clean” vehicles will be on display at the Orange County Market Place this Sunday, as the “Advanced Technology Clean Vehicle Test Drive” is opened to the public. A number of manufacturers, including BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru and Volkswagen, will be represented at the event. Drivers are encouraged to test the latest hybrid, compressed natural gas and super-clean gasoline vehicles, which can range from compact vehicles to full-blown sport utility vehicles.

Newport Beach police arrested four people on suspicion of stealing from vehicles in the Port Streets area, police announced Tuesday. Arrested were Kevin Purdue, 23, of Costa Mesa; Andrew Samuelu, 18, of Huntington Beach; Joseph Veenstra, 20, of Fountain Valley; and an unnamed 17-year-old Garden Grove boy, according to police. Police stopped a vehicle about 1:30 a.m. Monday near Pacific View and San Miguel drives, and minutes later stopped another about one block away, near San Miguel Drive and San Joaquin Hills Road.

It’s not very often a father will encourage a son to speed, but there was an exception to be found at Buffalo Hills Park in Newport Beach Sunday. The local YMCA put on its annual Pinewood Derby at 11 a.m. for sons and their fathers to race their homemade wood vehicles in a showdown that saw about 250 vehicles make their way down the race track. “It’s all about the kids,” volunteer Steve Sellinger said. This was his third year working with the event, and he also participated as a boy. The Corona Nation Y-Guides program has been serving the community for more than 50 years, as well as putting together the derby which celebrated its 25th year.

When the sirens turn on, the lights will turn green. At least they will at some of Costa Mesa's busiest intersections, where stoplights will soon help first-responders cut through congestion by anticipating the paths of emergency vehicles and changing accordingly. The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the installation of what's known as an Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) system at 25 intersections in the northern part of the city. "Every minute counts, and this will allow the emergency vehicles to change the lights to green so they can get to that person in need or distress" without being slowed by red lights, Mayor Jim Righeimer said at the council meeting.

The Costa Mesa City Council made a wise decision in the name of safety Monday when it somewhat banned motor homes from parking on city streets. Motor home owners will still be allowed to park their vehicles on the streets to load and unload their vehicles -- for 48 hours each time -- but will have to apply for city-issued parking placards to do so. Owners will also have to post stickers on bumpers to identify local vehicles. City officials, especially those at the Police Department who issue the placards, should keep open minds when it comes to limiting motor home owners to 30 round trips per year.

Newport Beach Police Officer Elijah Hayward received an award for his efforts in recovering stolen vehicles at the 17th annual Auto Theft Advisory Committee awards ceremony. He and nearly 30 other Orange County law enforcement officers were honored at the Irvine Marriott Hotel on Thursday for their efforts. Hayward, 25, has been with the department for about three years. In the last year, he recovered 10 stolen vehicles, Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Among the key speakers were Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona and Robert Bouttier, president and chief operating officer of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Three members of a Costa Mesa religious sect were in court Thursday on charges of operating a restaurant without a proper permit and of blocking a health inspection, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Steiner. At a pretrial hearing in Orange County Superior Court, the three members of the Piecemakers were represented for the first time by attorney Robert Miller, Steiner said. The pretrial hearing was continued, and a jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 28. Police believe crew targeted unlocked cars in Dover Shores A man arrested in connection with a theft from a vehicle in Newport Beach's Dover Shores neighborhood Jan. 6 is believed to be part of a crew that was targeting unlocked vehicles, police said.

Costa Mesa police arrested two people Tuesday morning after finding them asleep in a stolen vehicle, authorities said. Officers responded to a report of a suspicious person asleep in a silver Saturn parked along Paularino Avenue east of Madison Avenue just after 8 a.m., according to a news release. A 17-year-old from Costa Mesa was asleep in the driver's seat when officers arrived. Police are not identifying him because he is a minor. Luis Morales-Mireles, 23, also of Costa Mesa, was asleep in the passenger seat.

An international student at UC Irvine led authorities on a pursuit Thursday night that at times reached 122 mph, according to the California Highway Patrol. Yuan Zhou, 18, was arrested around 9:15 p.m. after a CHP cruiser maneuvered to stop the car on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The pursuit began around 8:30 p.m. when Zhou's BMW allegedly blazed by a patrol vehicle on the northbound 5 Freeway at Atlantic Boulevard in the Commerce area. Zhou then transitioned to the westbound 10 Freeway and continued westbound, "weaving in and out of traffic, using the right shoulder to pass vehicles and driving at speeds up to 122 mph," according to a CHP news release.

When the sirens turn on, the lights will turn green. At least they will at some of Costa Mesa's busiest intersections, where stoplights will soon help first-responders cut through congestion by anticipating the paths of emergency vehicles and changing accordingly. The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the installation of what's known as an Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) system at 25 intersections in the northern part of the city. "Every minute counts, and this will allow the emergency vehicles to change the lights to green so they can get to that person in need or distress" without being slowed by red lights, Mayor Jim Righeimer said at the council meeting.

A vehicle fire in a driveway spread to a home in Costa Mesa early Monday morning, authorities said. Fire crews responded to reports of a vehicle fire at 2203 Wallace Ave. at 3:11 a.m. The fire, which was extinguished in 18 minutes, was limited to a small portion of the garage area of the home, according to a news release. Firefighters believe the blaze began in the engine compartment of the vehicle. There were no injuries reported. Preliminary damage to the vehicle and property is $20,000.

Newport Beach police have arrested two men who could be tied to more than 20 residential burglaries in the city and neighboring Huntington Beach, authorities said Tuesday. The arrests, a Newport Beach Police Department news release said, came after a Dover Shores resident reported seeing the driver of a white Jeep Rubicon on Saturday stop outside her home, write something on a piece of paper and drive away. The woman took a cell phone picture of the Jeep, which she recalled matching a description NBPD Det. Tracy McKenzie had posted earlier that week on neighborhood social network Nextdoor.com , according to the release.

Newport Beach police responded to a call at 11:31 a.m. Wednesday about a man who tried to lure a girl toward a vehicle in the 600 block of Iris Avenue, police said. Two unidentified suspects pulled up to a yard where the girl was before the passenger asked her a question and encouraged her to come toward the vehicle to answer, Newport police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said. The girl, however, did not engage, Manzella said. According to Corona del Mar Today, which first reported the incident, the man persisted, asking the 14-year-old to point out directions on a map. Instead, she grabbed a stick lying in the yard and the man backed off, according to CdM Today's reporting.

An Irvine man was sentenced Friday to 21 years to life in prison after being convicted of murder for drunkenly crashing his truck into a car and killing a teenage girl, the Orange County district attorney announced. Austin Jeffrey Farley, 28, had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood on May 29, 2011, when he ran a red light turning left at the intersection of Culver Drive and Irvine Boulevard, crashing into a Mercedes-Benz sedan carrying a father, his daughter and three of her friends.

An 11-year-old Costa Mesa girl died when two personal watercraft collided over the weekend on the Colorado River near Laughlin, Nev., authorities said Monday. Samantha Nguyen, a sixth-grader at Sonora Elementary School, was at the river with her father, Vince Nguyen, according to Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials. He sustained severe injuries in the accident. Samantha, her father and another girl were riding a Jet Ski-type vehicle near the Emerald River Golf Course in Laughlin on Saturday morning, followed by a group in a similar watercraft said Doug Nielsen, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Costa Mesa police Wednesday arrested a man who allegedly tried to break into a truck using a welding torch so he could steal expensive equipment inside. At about 5 a.m., an officer saw a Dodge minivan in the 1500 block of Wintergreen Place with its license plates covered, according to a news release from the Costa Mesa Police Department. When the officer pulled up in his squad car, the minivan sped away down an alley before the driver and another man ditched the vehicle and fled on foot, police said.

A pedestrian was struck by a vehicle in Newport Beach on Sunday night, police said. The woman was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana after being hit about 8:50 p.m. near 30th Street and Newport Boulevard, said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella. Her injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, Manzella said. The type of vehicle and further details about the incident - as well as the woman's identity, age and city of residence - were not immediately available.